Which airline would you choose?

[SeaWatch]

I just found out TAP Portugal canceled my booked flight to Barcelona. So, I have to re -book and for the same price and schedule can select from British Airways, US Air, American oh Finnair.

 

Any suggestions?

[sail7seas]

Does one have a better departure/arrival time than the others?

[Randyk47]

I just found out TAP Portugal canceled my booked flight to Barcelona. So, I have to re -book and for the same price and schedule can select from British Airways, US Air, American oh Finnair.

 

Any suggestions?

 

We flew from San Antonio to Barcelona via a combination of American Airlines and British Airways. While I can't say we were excited about going through Heathrow in London it all worked out. We flew back from Istanbul on British Airways to London then American Airlines back home and it was an excellent but long trip. US Airways and American Airlines are in the process of merging and we'll be flying to Athens and home from Rome on US Airways. Haven't flown US Airways in years but we're hopeful for pleasant two-stop flights going and coming. :) Finnair.....never been there, done that.

[K&RCurt]

We flew from San Antonio to Barcelona via a combination of American Airlines and British Airways. While I can't say we were excited about going through Heathrow in London it all worked out. We flew back from Istanbul on British Airways to London then American Airlines back home and it was an excellent but long trip. US Airways and American Airlines are in the process of merging and we'll be flying to Athens and home from Rome on US Airways. Haven't flown US Airways in years but we're hopeful for pleasant two-stop flights going and coming. :) Finnair.....never been there, done that.

 

 

I am delighted to learn that you had such a good experience with British Airways flying through Heathrow. i have yet to make a connection on British Airways through Heathrow and have my luggage come along with me. I spent 4 days of a 7 day business trip in Varese, Italy before my bags made it from Heathrow to Milano.

 

Needless to say, I would suggest avoiding British Airways for anything than 1 non stop flight.

 

It just goes to show what a different experience two people can have with the same firm!

[ohmark]

I am delighted to learn that you had such a good experience with British Airways flying through Heathrow. i have yet to make a connection on British Airways through Heathrow and have my luggage come along with me. I spent 4 days of a 7 day business trip in Varese, Italy before my bags made it from Heathrow to Milano.

 

Needless to say, I would suggest avoiding British Airways for anything than 1 non stop flight.

 

It just goes to show what a different experience two people can have with the same firm!

And for me, I've connected through Heathrow via British Airways numerous times, and have never had a problem with my luggage.

[RJ2002]

I am not familiar with Finnair at all, but often times you will hear that people prefer the foreign carriers over the US carriers for long haul overseas flights.

 

You might want to check out some sample flights for each carrier to see what type of equipment they are flying on your expected route. Then, I'd check out seatguru to look at things such as seat pitch, AVOD availability, etc. Assuming things like flight times and connections are pretty much equal, personally I would make a selection based on comfort, particularly if flying in economy.

[startwin]

And for me, I've connected through Heathrow via British Airways numerous times, and have never had a problem with my luggage.

 

I have to say my numerous flights with BA over many years have been non-stops (regular trips back to the UK from Canada) and they have never lost my luggage yet. (Mind you, I was one of the hapless passengers flying into Heathrow Terminal 5 on the opening day - what a nightmare that was! My luggage ended up on a soccer field in Spain. Don't ask.) However, I have not done any connecting flights with them. I haven't flown with Finnair but I have heard good things about them.

Edited February 8, 2014 by startwin

[Copper10-8]

Me thinks Finnair is going to take you to Helsinki first. That's going the long way to get to Barcelona. That alone would place them #4 on your list

[DizzyDallasDi]

I am delighted to learn that you had such a good experience with British Airways flying through Heathrow. i have yet to make a connection on British Airways through Heathrow and have my luggage come along with me. I spent 4 days of a 7 day business trip in Varese, Italy before my bags made it from Heathrow to Milano.

 

Needless to say, I would suggest avoiding British Airways for anything than 1 non stop flight.

 

It just goes to show what a different experience two people can have with the same firm!

 

Arriving at your destination without luggage on an overseas connection would be more understandable than what happened to me once. SW lost my luggage on a flight from Houston to Dallas....took them 2 days to find it. :confused:

[RJ2002]

I have to say my numerous flights with BA over many years have been non-stops (regular trips back to the UK from Canada) and they have never lost my luggage yet. (Mind you, I was one of the hapless passengers flying into Heathrow Terminal 5 on the opening day - what a nightmare that was! My luggage ended up on a soccer field in Spain. Don't ask.) However, I have not done any connecting flights with them. I haven't flown with Finnair but I have heard good things about them.

 

I am going to try to remember to ask you about this at our M&G on the Zuiderdam! :D

[Cruzin Terri]

Flying Brutish Airways through Heathrow always incurs hefty fuel surcharges. I would avoid BA and Heathrow if possible. It's always my last option.

Heathrow is a nightmare. Have you considered Iberia?

Terri

Edited February 8, 2014 by Cruzin Terri

[SeaWatch]

Sail, all have exactly the same departure and arrival times. Return is on Iberia.

[SeaWatch]

Thanks to all who have answered - I should have mentioned all are non-stop to Barcelona.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Warning about American and US Airways -- they have already merged.

And they have already started to drop flights where we live as they overlap.

Don't know if that will be the case for you.

[gigianne]

We have flown Finair - excellent!

[Randyk47]

I am delighted to learn that you had such a good experience with British Airways flying through Heathrow. i have yet to make a connection on British Airways through Heathrow and have my luggage come along with me. I spent 4 days of a 7 day business trip in Varese, Italy before my bags made it from Heathrow to Milano.

 

Needless to say, I would suggest avoiding British Airways for anything than 1 non stop flight.

 

It just goes to show what a different experience two people can have with the same firm!

 

Actually the outbound trip through Heathrow was not pleasant but that was because of security agents who made the worst TSA agent I've ever met look like an angel. Getting from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 was confusing and time consuming. It didn't help that fog delayed our ongoing flight to Barcelona a couple of hours but none of that was British Airways fault. Our return from Istanbul was British Airways to Heathrow and there we switched to American Airlines metal. Maybe we were lucky but our bags made all of our flights outbound and homeward bound. I do have to smile a bit about the different experiences folks have though with airlines......my neighbor flies frequently and swears by Delta as the best, our experiences have been more swearing at Delta and we avoid them like the plague. :)

[Randyk47]

Thanks to all who have answered - I should have mentioned all are non-stop to Barcelona.

 

I'd go American Airlines then but we're advanced frequent fliers with them so we get some perks and benefits when we fly with them. The reason we're flying US Airways on our next trip is actually two-fold. One, they have direct non-stops to Athens and back this way from Rome. The notion of just two flights each direction was a big selling factor. Two, with the merger of American Airlines and US Airways we were able to use our American frequent flier account numbers on the flights so the mileage will go to our most used accounts. American doesn't fly the same non-stop routes from the US to Athens and back home from Rome so there is little chance of the flights being dropped as the merger sorts itself out. Of course my habit is to "trust but verify" so I'm watching the schedules to make sure we don't get caught by surprise. :)

Edited February 8, 2014 by Randyk47

[kelleherdl]

I work for a British company and need to travel to London often. I am lucky to have a non-stop AA flight direct to Hearthrow from my home. All my connections to the continent are by BA. Since I am pretty used to LHR and connections it really doesn't bother me, but on purely tourist travel I would likely look for other connecting airports. It is a hassle to get between terminals at LHR. You may look for connections thru Brussels. We had a very good trip going through there to Norway. I have not had good luck with connections directly to Spain.

 

Dennis

[mstigerlily18]

Iberia is the most direct.

 

However.

 

They have not-so-good food (and the breakfast is terrible, in my experience!). They also do not have seat-back entertainment- they only show the movie on shared drop-down screens (tvs every 10-15 rows). Check seat guru for locations.

 

You'll probably have to connect in Madrid's Barajas Airport, which I like. It's pretty and easy to get through. There is some good food there- look for tortilla española (spanish egg and potato frittata- so good!) and jamon serrano.

[Randyk47]

Iberia is the most direct.

 

However.

 

They have not-so-good food (and the breakfast is terrible, in my experience!). They also do not have seat-back entertainment- they only show the movie on shared drop-down screens (tvs every 10-15 rows). Check seat guru for locations.

 

You'll probably have to connect in Madrid's Barajas Airport, which I like. It's pretty and easy to get through. There is some good food there- look for tortilla española (spanish egg and potato frittata- so good!) and jamon serrano.

 

I think Iberia has, or at least did at one time, direct flights from Miami to Barcelona and vice versa without stopping in Madrid. Might have even been that choice out of Atlanta too. We had that option a couple of years ago but my research on Iberia wasn't encouraging so we opted not to go that way. Iberia is part of the OneWorld system so our mileage would have counted but things like on-time record, food, and seat configuration made us stick with American.

[VMax1700]

Are you sure that these are not codeshares. I don't think that Finnair flies from USA to Spain directly. Check if the flights are operated by BA or AA metal.

[RuthC]

Arriving at your destination without luggage on an overseas connection would be more understandable than what happened to me once. SW lost my luggage on a flight from Houston to Dallas....took them 2 days to find it. :confused:

 

Were they walking it up??? :eek:

[Copper10-8]

Are you sure that these are not codeshares. I don't think that Finnair flies from USA to Spain directly. Check if the flights are operated by BA or AA metal.

 

They don't; JFK-Helsinki-Barcelona

[RJ2002]

They don't; JFK-Helsinki-Barcelona

 

That would be enough for me to cross Finnair off the list. Flight time much longer than NY-LHR-BCN.

[Himself]

When I fly in the US, I fly Southwest where the bags fly free.